


Happy Birthday, Darling

by thecayenneknight



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fluff, Kotatsu also cameos, M/M, fluffy fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 08:37:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20945459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecayenneknight/pseuds/thecayenneknight
Summary: Of all the days of the year, Ace's birthday is the one he doesn't want to celebrate, and Deuce's one job is to convince him otherwise.





	Happy Birthday, Darling

With all the preparations in place, the only thing left to do was for Deuce to fetch Ace from the ship. With his crewmates urging him to hurry, Deuce darted up the ramp to the ship, skipping nimbly over the rigging, and ducked into the dark shadows of the _Moby_ _Dick_’s interior which they all affectionately called “the belly of the whale”. By now, the route to their room was so familiar Deuce didn’t even have to think about where he was going. He stopped only once outside their door to catch his breath.

When he entered, Deuce was only slightly surprised to find Ace still snoring on their oversized bed. Ace asleep was a graceful picture of indignity. On any other night, Deuce wouldn’t have minded staying to admire the fullness of Ace’s slack lips from the sleep-bubble coming from his nose, the slow rise and fall of his sun-kissed chest with each breath while his arms were stretched out wide like a showman displaying himself for an audience. In the darkness his skin glowed from within like a light at the bottom of the darkest ocean trench.

Deuce lit a lamp and leaned over the bed. He found Kotatsu curled into Ace’s side and partially hidden by the blankets.

“Nau…” Kotatsu yawned and stretched out his paws.

“Sorry, Kotatsu. I’m here to steal your personal bed warmer for a few hours.” He scratched behind the cat’s ears apologetically.

“Just who do you think you’re going to steal?” drawled a distant, tired voice.

Placing his hands squarely on his waist and puffing out his chest, Deuce replied in a grandiose voice, “I am Masked Deuce, the scandalous rogue, here to steal away the virtuous princess from his chambers.”

This earned him a scoff. “_Who’s_ the princess?” Ace glared up at him through half-lidded eyes. Fire burned behind those dark, dark irises.

“Sleeping Beauty, of course,” Deuce said without hesitation. He knelt to one knee by the bedside, placing himself on Ace’s level. He cupped one hand over Ace’s shoulder, leaned in, and gave him a good shake. “Wake-y, wake-y.”

“What kind of wake-up call is that?” As if solely to spite Deuce, Ace hunkered down deeper into their bed. “Are we under attack?”

“Huh? No.”

“Is something on fire?”

“No.”

“Did Thatch get rejected again and need a drinking partner?”

“No.”

“Then why can’t I just sleep the rest of the day if I want?”

Ace’s voice sounded so drained of everything Deuce couldn’t answer for a few seconds. Deuce closed his eyes in meditation, focusing his power to double his efforts. He had suspected, though he’d hoped it wasn’t the case, that it would turn out Ace was in one of his more melancholic moods, which sometimes happened. Deuce had become an expert at detecting them. Not so much reliably defusing them, Ace’s stubbornness being a difficult obstacle to overcome.

“Come on,” Deuce urged in a low, crooning voice. “We’re docked in a good port and the weather is beautiful. Let’s go out. We can just go to the beach.”

In response, Ace wrapped himself tighter in the blankets like a petulant child. His lips were all pouty.

Deuce sighed. “Will you tell me what’s the matter?”

There was a pause, then, “You haven’t wished me a happy birthday.”

“Happy birthday, darling. And a happy new year, too.” He kissed Ace. “Now the curse placed by the evil witch is broken. You’re free from eternal slumber. Let’s go out and celebrate.”

Even Kotatsu gave him a skeptical look for that. Well, Deuce had to give it a shot, didn’t he? Everyone was waiting.

“It’s my birthday, isn’t it? So if I want to stay stuck in my room today, no one can get in my way.”

Again Deuce found himself at a loss for what to do. In the worst case scenario he would have to tell Ace the truth, but if he did would that mean Ace only went to the beach to please everyone else? It was Ace’s birthday so it really should have been about what Ace wanted, but Ace was an obstinate pessimist who wouldn’t believe the truth if it hit him in the face and broke his nose. No matter what happened, Ace always focused on the past, on that one small detail of his history, to the point of obliviousness to his entire present. In a way, he couldn’t see the candle because he was too busy staring at the shadows it cast against the wall.

Deuce’s voice softened. “The point of birthdays is to celebrate your being born.”

“Is that such a good thing?”

“I think it’s a pretty damn good thing. In fact, I think it’s the best thing to have ever happened. I’m probably a little biased in this matter, though.” He smiled softly through the semi-darkness. Ace looked away. Deuce knew Ace was blushing by how the air between them warmed a few degrees.

“It’s just– People gather around and throw big birthday parties for their loved ones. They take one day out of the whole year to thank them for being born. Maybe I’ve always been a little jealous of that. Because one day out of the year people are thanked for being born, and three-hundred and sixty-five days a year I would hear that a person like me shouldn’t even exist because of that man.”

Deuce’s hand balled into a fist he couldn’t relax. With all the muscles in his body tense, it was all he can do to distract himself by pressing his forehead against Ace’s neck. Ace’s skin smelled like ash on a warm hearth.

“And how long has it been since I said anything like that, since I met you? Got to know you? When you saved me?” There was no answer. “I still hate myself for that. And I’m sorry I never gave you a proper birthday before. It’s one of my own screw-ups that I need to man up and fix. I want to be the kind of man who can become better.” To be the man Ace deserved. “Give me the chance? Let me take you on a walk down to the beach.”

Ace pushed himself up. The look in his eyes shifted, from shadowy and distant to curious and probing. He looked down at Deuce still kneeling at the floor and tried to read his mind.

“You really want to get me down to the beach,” he observed.

“I think you’ll find it very interesting,” Deuce replied vaguely.

“What’s down there?”

“Go see for yourself.”

Ace considered this for a moment. Then he kicked the blankets off his legs, got out of the bed, and pulled on his shorts and boots. Kotatsu curled his back and then jumped down, slipping between Ace’s legs toward the door. Absently grabbing his hat and placing it on his head with one hand, Ace slipped his other hand into Deuce’s.

“Alright. Let’s go.”

When they stepped out onto the deck they blinked dumbly against the bright summer sun and wide blue sky. Ace looked out over the beach where the Whitebeard Pirates waited for him around a great birthday feast and giant cake lit up by twenty-one candles. As Deuce watched his glowing smile, he placed his hand at the small of his back and gave him an encouraging nudge forward.

“Happy birthday, darling.”

“Is all this for me?” Ace asked incredulously.

“A lot of people love you, Ace.”

“And you?”

“I thought it was obvious,” Deuce said with a puff of laughter. He kissed Ace fully on his warm, grinning lips. “I love you most of all.”

Then they went down to the party.


End file.
